Hundreds of adults and children gathered under the elms at Ruggles Park on a gorgeous June 18th Saturday for the 2016 kick-off to the summer season of Greater Fall River Re-creation programs and activities. The free three-hour celebration offered music, food and plenty of fun activities for hundreds of people including arts and crafts, games and prizes, face painting, bouncy houses, a fire demonstration house, a petting zoo, pony rides, and the ever popular Wiggle Kids bouncy balls. A number of agencies offered information and give-aways to participants, including Mass in Motion Fall River who arranged for a SRTA bus to demonstrate how to load bicycles on the bus for longer trips. Free pizza was provided by Seth Hockert-lotz, owner of Domino's Pizza South Main Street, who helped to sponsor the event along with the United Way. Click here for a five-minute video of the event. Click here to see pictures from last year's event. For more information about any of their summer programs, contact Grace Gerling at Greater Fall River Re-Creation at 508-679-0922.

(Top row) Coach Kim of Wiggle Kids came with her popular bouncy balls for kids of all ages. (Row two) United Neighbors of Fall River Executive Director Wendy Garf-Lipp paints Ellen Gendreau's face while her grandmother, Michelle Gendreau, holds three-year-old Owen Gendreau. (Row three) The crowd looks over all of the organization tables while Kennedy and Kyle Posey enjoy some popcorn and Seth Hockert-lotz of Domino's Pizza hands out free slices. (Bottom row) Mike Estrella of the Azorean Petting Zoo leads a rider around on a pony while Nancy Emond of Kool Kats Airbrush Tattoos paints six-year-old George Banasse's arm and Eric Andrade of Mass in Motion Fall River hands out walking maps in front of a SRTA bus that was parked to demonstrate how to load a bicycle onto the front of the bus for longer trips.